Bathrooms often lack clearly defined areas for the temporary placement of personal articles. Storage cabinets therein rapidly become filled with toiletries, medicines and the like, preventing the addition of further items. Frequently, newspapers and magazines carried into the room must be placed on the floor subjecting them to potential damage. Therefore, a need exists for a shelf and rack unit providing easily accessible storage for reading materials and other personal items such as a cup of coffee and an ashtray.
In the past, others confronted with this problem of a lack of bathroom storage space have incorporated shelves into toilet paper dispensers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,467 issued Mar. 26, 1974 to Arthur E. Bauman discloses a toilet paper holder having a horizontal shelf situated below a cradle for supporting a roll of toilet paper. The holder attaches to a toilet tank by a hook at its upper end. U.S. Pat. No. 3,482,796 issued Dec. 9, 1969 to Roy C. Tucker discloses a toilet paper holding device which has a shelf for holding a box of tissues or other articles. A dowel attached to a singular vertical support holds the roll of toilet paper. No means are provided therein for retaining bulky objects such as newspapers or magazines. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,491 issued Nov. 20, 1984 to James R. Rainey discloses a similar device having grooved side panels. The side panels are incapable of positively locking the spindle, and consequently the paper roll, in place. Again, no provision is made for the retention of bulky printed materials. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,859 issued Mar. 16, 1976 to Philip Boone discloses a small shelf having a fold down lid which is mountable upon a conventional toilet paper dispenser. The shelf's small size limits its storage capacity.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.